7.7.16

The Bach Passion ceases to be a spectator sport, it becomes a passively participatory event…

…The St John Passion performed by the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle (with a stellar cast) wouldn’t be an unusual thing, even in times where fewer and fewer big romantic orchestras perform early music that has become the provenance of Historically Informed Performance groups. But as the Berlin Radio Chorus assembles – then lies down – on the blank space of Berlin’s Philharmonic Hall (space the much reduced and original-instrument-studded baroque core of the Berlin Phil. does not need), one begins to suspect that something is different. Or, more likely, the watcher of this DVD/Blu-ray set already knows that they are watching Peter Sellars’ staging of the St John Passion…